Grounds for restoring the missed deadline for applying to the court for the resolution of an individual labor dispute: some of the legal aspects

Abstract

A significant number of lawsuits are related to labor disputes. Especially acute manifestation of injustice is observed when the employee and the employer are arguing, and because the employee is significantly inferior in legal literacy, subordinate to the employer, and because the employee does not have such financial opportunities to attract leading experts in the field of labor law, contributing to the development of a winning strategy and tactics to protect their rights in court, which the employer has and uses. These circumstances have a significant impact on court decisions. Add to the social acuteness of such situations when an employee goes to court, and his labor dispute is not considered at all for the reasons of missing the Statute of limitations, especially if the assessment of the reasons for missing the term does not have clear criteria and in some cases the same circumstances give a chance and the term is restored by the court, and in other cases they are also insufficient. Such situations undermine not only faith in justice, but also cause distrust of the entire judicial system. The article is devoted to the problem of determining the criteria for the formation of legal grounds for restoring the missed deadline for applying to the court for the resolution of individual labor disputes. Specific examples of the review of domestic judicial practice are given. It is suggested that the legislation should reflect and take into account labor-legal specifics when considering labor disputes in courts, especially in relation to issues related to the assessment of circumstances caused by the omission of the Statute of limitations for their sufficient respect and weight for its restoration when making decisions by the courts. The grounds for restoring the deadlines missed for applying for protection of labor rights must take into account the specifics of labor relations, caused primarily by the inequality of the parties and the inequality of the parties ’ procedural capabilities to provide evidence in support of their procedural position. It is suggested that further improvement of the institution of time limits in labor law is currently required, both for determining the limitation period in labor law, and for developing a uniform approach to assessing the circumstances that serve as the basis for a legitimate and justified restoration of the term for applying to the court for valid reasons.

Keywords:

labor disputes, individual labor disputes, term of applying to the court, valid reasons for missing the deadline, protection of labor rights